TIP: Choosing a camera

For most uses, megapixels are not the defining feature. I recommend 4 or above, but higher megapixel DOES NOT equate to better picture, just the ability to make larger prints. A 3.2 megapixel camera with a good color chip prints a beautiful 8x10. A 5 megapixel camera prints a great 11x14.

Optical zoom matters, Digital Zoom is a hoax. Optical zoom is the real deal, but digital zoom is just enlargeing the picture like you would in a PC, and it always gives lower quality to do so. I never even turn on the digital zoom feature in a camera, the same thing can be done in the PC. So, if you shoot wildlife or anything far away you want something with a lot of OPTICAL zoom, like 10x. If you get a camera with lots of optical zoom, you need a good image stabelizer if you are not using a tripod, like the cameras to the right.

THE COLOR CHIPS not all cameras give the same color quality, and not all cameras color quality is as good a year after you buy it as it was when you did. SONY and CANNON tend to have the toughest cameras that do not degrade in my opinion, and I have taken over 500,000 shots with them.

LOOK THROUGH THE LENS: If you get a camera that does not let you look through the lens as well as showing the picture on a screen, you will be very, very sorry when you shoot outdoors when bright light hits the screen, you won't be able to see what you are doing, or what you just shot.

TIPS AND TRICKS for shooting with digital cameras
Digital photography has come about as a result of the convergence of both IT and photography. Both technical and aesthetic aspects of digital photography are derived from conventional photography, and hence a good knowledge of photographic skills also help to make or break a picture.

Inevitably, digital photography brings with it new techniques and means to capture an image. Basic photography skills such as lighting, exposure and composition are naturally important. But there are many new areas that a digital photographer should pay attention to:

1. Shutter Lag

Tip: Keep the camera still for a few seconds even after you depress the shutter release button.

For conventional cameras, the time lag from the moment your finger depresses the shutter release button till the moment the shutter opens is virtually negligible.

On the other hand, for most digital cameras, there is a noticeable time lag which varies across the many camera models. Response time is especially slow on the cheaper models. For some makes, there are small beeps or clicks to let the user know when the picture has been taken. For others, the image taking process is so quiet that you may not even know if the camera has responded.

You may think that this is an advantage over conventional SLRs with the noisy slap of the mirror, or the sound of the shutter of a rangefinder. On the contrary, many professionals miss the reassuring slap of the mirror in an SLR!


2. Optical vs Digital Zoom

Tip: Try not to use the digital zoom function.

Cheaper camera models come only with digital zoom, whilst the high-end ones come with both optical and digital zooms. Optical zooms work basically like your conventional zoom lens whereby lens elements in various groups are moved to change the focal length of the lens.

Digital zooms are only present in digital cameras, and basically work by utilizing only a smaller portion of the CCD element. (The CCD, or charge-coupled device, records picture information.) This reduces the angle of view and hence gives the impression that you are closing in on a subject far away.

Image quality obviously suffers when a smaller area of the CCD is used to represent the same image size. There is a noticeable increase in "noise" in the final image, which can be compared to graininess in conventional film. Hence, image quality is high for optical zooms and rather poor for digital zooms.


3. LCD vs Viewfinder

Tip: Use the LCD for more accurate frame coverage.

It is true that using the LCD to compose your photographs is the fastest way to drain your batteries. In fact, it is advisable to switch off the LCD and use the viewfinder (for cameras that have a viewfinder!) to conserve battery life. In addition, most LCDs are very difficult to view under bright sunlight, and using the viewfinder helps in composition.

On the other hand, most viewfinders suffer from parallax error as the image is slightly "off" from the actual image. This is most prominent when your subjects are closer to the camera, as in portraiture or macro shots. For accurate frame coverage, compose your images with the LCD.


4. ISO Setting

Tip: Use the default ISO setting.

As digital cameras were made for photographers, so-called film speed settings (based on ISO ratings) were incorporated. Many digital camera users are stumped as to the need for ISO when there is no film involved. This is an example of how legacy requirements affect even the design of new high-technology products!

Manufacturers of digital cameras usually rate their CCD's sensitivity to the equivalent of a film's sensitivity. Hence, if a CCD is rated at ISO 80, this digital camera is as sensitive to light as a normal film rated at ISO 80 is.

In the more expensive digital camera models, there is usually an option to increase this ISO setting to perhaps ISO 200, 400 or maybe even more. This gives the photographer more flexibility for action shots or even for low-light situations.

Unless you really need to, don't change the ISO setting as it is comparable to pushing a film. You will be able to get the shot but the results may not be very pleasing due to increased "noise".


5. White Balance & Colour Temperature

Tip: Use the white balance "auto" setting. If you get strange colour tints, try to calibrate the white balance or change to preset settings to suit the colour temperature of the light source.

Colour temperature measures the colour quality of a light source. The concept of colour temperature is based on the radiation emitted by a black-body and is very technical and complicated. To the photographer, the lighting is "warm" if there is a yellowish hue, and "cool" if there is a bluish hue.

Digital photography brings a whole new dimension to the area of colour temperature in photography. Previously, in conventional photography, the photographer had to use colour correction filters to correct for the various colour temperatures. There was also the choice of tungsten or daylight-balanced film. For digital photographers, things are less complicated as colour temperature correction is usually automatic.

White balance is quite a new term for conventional photographers, although videographers have long been using it. Basically, white balance is what the camera perceives as true white. A white object may be yellowish-white under tungsten lights, slightly greenish-white under fluorescent lights, or slightly bluish-white on a cloudy day. Basically, the camera tries to adjust the colour balance to achieve a tonality of white that is "correct".

In most cases, the white balance is quite satisfactory. If the predominant light source for a scene comes from a tungsten light bulb, the image will appear yellowish. Most digital cameras automatically correct for it, and produce an image without the yellow hue. Certain top-end models allow you to calibrate the white balance by selecting an area in the scene that is white. This option gives you the highest accuracy.

On the other hand, there are times when we do want to retain the yellow hue to give an image more life. Play around with the various white balance settings to attain the most pleasing colour balance.